The seven new £1 coin varieties (& 2 errors)

Everything the advanced collector needs to know about new £1 coin types and known errors/mules.

This page contains information on:

The Seven Different £1 coin types (2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017) Two errors that have been seen often enough to be of note The two different edge types on the circulation 2016 coin Information on man-made ‘error’ coins being offered on auction sites

For a coin that has only officially been in use for a short time, there are in fact already seven known different types of new £1 coin, including (No.3) that I have confirmed today and am now revealing to the world (29/4/17) and the new 2014 dated trial coin, first published here (16/1/18)! There are: three trial coins, one coin sold in pairs only with a mint mark, one mule and two fully in circulation. To help understand the chaos, here is a graphic. Feel free to share the info.

Further info:

Approximately 20,000 of the 2014 dated trial were made. It is not known how many of those were returned to the Royal Mint.

For type 3 the Royal Mint have since stated that approx. 1000 were made, see post below made by Andrew on 10/9/17 and a second post dated 29/9/17 below, where the Royal Mint have provided info to confirm exactly 1000 mintage and have stated that the coin was deliberate and is not a mule.

Further information on the 2016 and 2014 trial coins will appear here when confirmed.

Regarding coin 5, below is a close-up of the cross crosslet mint mark:

Two errors that are rare but certainly not unique as a few of each have been brought to my attention:

1. A partial collar error: The collar surrounds the planchet (blank metal disc before it becomes a coin) while the coin is struck, it gives the coin its shape and in the case of the new £1 also imparts the rim millings onto 6 of the 12 sides. Something went wrong here and the collar wasn’t properly surrounding the whole planchet while it was struck, resulting in part of the rim looking normal and the other part of the rim splaying slightly outwards to form what appears to be a raised lip around the edge. This problem has been reported many times and is likely to exist on thousands of coins.

2. The leaked egg error: Not a technical term, but something that helps visualise this particular error as it looks like the yolk of a fried egg has been broken and leaked onto the egg white!

New theory on this one, and it makes more sense to me: It could be due to the pill shaped middle (silver) part of the coin not lining up properly with the (brass) ring part just before it’s struck, causing it to be struck partially on the ring and not within it. This metal on metal means extra mass where it shouldn’t be and this is pushed out towards the edge. In extreme cases the movement of metal causes a gap between the outer ring and centre part of the coin (as shown in the image below)

The two different edge milling varieties on the circulation coin:

This is a minor variety but is worthy of a mention because it involve a scarcer edge variety. The so-called ‘leftie’ has been observed on the normal 2016, 2017 and 2018 dated circulation £1 coins (and also on coins in BU sets). For 2018 coins it’s currently too early to tell how common it may be.

Normal/commonest type: When the coin is held upright with the Queen facing right and the hologram at the bottom. To the right of the lowest edge point is normally a milled edge section (continuing on alternate straight edges around the coin).

Scarcer (about 1 in 20 for 2016, as low as 1 in 830 for 2017 observed, based on a survey of 8281 coins*): When the coin is held upright with the Queen facing right and the hologram at the bottom, the edge section to the left of the lowest edge point is milled.

The image below shows the commonest edge type, with milling to the right of the lowest point.

Another minor discrepancy

When two coins are compared side-by-side there are often differences in the colour of the brass alloy used for the outer ring of the coin.

Man-made ‘error’ coins being offered on auction sites:

Ever since the new £1 coin appeared in circulation there have been unscrupulous people claiming to offer all kinds of errors for sale. Mostly on eBay but also other online sales platforms. Most involve pushing out the middle and either manipulating it or putting it back in the wrong way round, rotated or not putting it back at all! Here is a question I received over email and my response to it.

On 04/05/2017 02:30, Michael M wrote:

Hi, like your website, very quick question….
Loads of £1 coins selling right now on eBay for silly money, most of them claiming to be either….
– centre missing from coin
– queens head on wrong side of coin
– queens head side blank and shiny in centre silver area
– chunk of metal missing from centre silver area
…. and so on.

Is all this nonsense? Looks to me people have worked out an easy way to pop the centre silver disc out (whack with mallet?) and then simply put it back the other way round, cut a bit off with hacksaw, use glass paper and buffer to polish one side blank, etc etc etc …….

Thanks for your time reading this.

Michael M.

My reply

Yes, it’s absolute nonsense, they are all home made ‘errors’ and technically have no value, not even £1. It’s fairly easy (so I hear) to push out the middle part of the new £1 coin and the same for the £2 coins. Anyone that does so and tries to fool people into thinking it’s some kind of error and was made that way, either by describing it as such, not describing it at all, or claiming to innocently know nothing about it, is clearly of very dubious character. People that break coins are also committing a crime.

Genuine error collectors know what genuine error coins look like and always understand exactly what went wrong during production. The general public can either learn about the minting process and about genuine error coins that can occur. Or they should probably leave well alone, especially on eBay! I’ll post this on the ‘The seven new £1 coin varieties’ page for people to see.

The Check Your Change admin is Mr C H Perkins, publisher of numismatic publications in printed and eBook format. Author of "Collectors' Coins - Decimal Issues of the UK" and other books on British coins and related subjects.

Comments

I am amazed that so many people are falling for the eBay scammers with their homemade error new pounds. The middle missing one is so obviously a scam as is the shiny middle with no design. The pictures are the same shot used over and over again. Today there is one seller with middle wrong way round with a picture of 20 coins. People, he or she has been in the shed with a mallet and dowel. Stop giving your cash to these fraudsters please.

About these new coins. I’ve maybe had about ten since they came out. I love stacking them up on each other, and I noticed that the edge on one didn’t match up with the others as it was one alternation off. I mean, the edge at the”n” in”one” is smooth and they alternate from there. But in this one the”n” is ridged.

I’m assuming this is comparable to the”upside down” lettering myth on the old ones. Perhaps you would like to address this?

Well spotted. Indeed there is an edge variety as you describe. From the obverse where the ‘hologram’ is, with the point at the bottom, most have an edge milled section on the rim to the right of the point. Some have the milled part to the left (this one is scarcer but not rare). It’s not the same as the ‘upside down’ writing, as the milling is put onto the coin (as far as I know) by the collar around the coin at the same time that it is struck with the design. The edge writing on coins is pressed into the blank before it is struck.

Hi Ben,
I am not convinced about the coins with the milled edge out of sync being on average 1 in 25, as this would mean that there are 20 million of them.
Therefore very easy to find, I wonder if the Royal Mint knows how many are out there?

Hi could you please help I have been saving the £2 coins for the coin hunt ,today I have completed the set but I have noticed on the 2015 first world war 5th portrait Obverse reads 2 Pounds yet on the 4th Portrait it reads Two pounds is this normal or have I picked up a fake ?
Thanx Yvonne

Hello,
Firstly I have to say I love your site, it has quashed many arguments caused by scam artists on social media. I have two series c £1 notes (from 1970’s I think) that I discovered when helping sort out some of my grandparents things that had been forgotten about in the back of a cupboard. I don’t want a value but are there any checks I can do to ensure they’re ‘real’ as they’re fairly basic by today’s standards. Any micro marks or hidden details or anyway to check the serial numbers?
Many thanks
Donna

Thanks very much, that’s what it’s there for – facts and figures without the silly media hype. From memory, don’t the £1 notes just have a watermark of the Queen? The printing quality will also be very good and very sharp and I don’t think any fakes of those are known.

I have a new design £1 coin but it has a bronze-esque almost rose gold colouring on the outside as opposed to the standard gold. Does anyone know of any others like this? It otherwise looks too legit to be a forgery

I’d also like to make you aware that there may be 2014 versions in existence. One such example was tweeted by ex-chancellor George Osborne and is readily available to view on google. It is highly doubtful that none escaped the initial design/trial stage.

I’ve not seen or heard of any but it is of course possible. But perhaps they really did only make a handful, kept one for the RM collection and destroyed any others. If any ever show up I will of course mention them.

I’ve found many of the new one pound coins with the edge difference, another has turned up in my change thismorning. I’m starting to wonder if the error originates from the Llantrisant mint in Cardiff, which is only down the road from where I live? Maybe I’m on to something 🙂

I have got four of those pound coins with the variation of the “milling” to the left instead of the right, tell me are they worth anything, I did not realise these new coins also have a date stamp up around the rim , lets get our magnifiying glasses out,
when these coins 1st came out I collected 100 so that I could see if I could find a forgery ( I read somewhere that about 30% of the old ones were fakes) that is how I managed to find these with hthe variation 4 out of 100 = 25%

Hi, I was wondering if you were able to help me? I received a new £1 dated 2017 in my change today. Inside the crown on the left is what looks like an ‘S’ or ‘8’. Do you know if this is anything unusual? I have looked online but haven’t been able to find any information. Thanks

I have found 2 old £1 coins ( well soon in October) They read……nemo me impune laggessit and decus et tutamen, but upside down from the queens head on the edging, Is this normal? Also 2 £2 coin which writing is upside down on the edge aswell.

Writing is random on all £1 and £2 coins, it can be up either way. I wish that Sun article hadn’t falsely told people otherwise and started that urban myth because since then it is the most commonly asked question! No one ever even used to look before!

Further to my last update on the request made to the Royal Mint for information on the 2016 trial coin, they have confirmed the following:

“I have made enquiries as to your below information request and I understand that the additional 1000 trial coins produced in 2016 were as a result of a late request from a company for trial pieces. They are certainly not considered a ‘mule’.”

This means that the 2016 coin isn’t a mule (they have clearly confirmed this in writing) and is in fact a deliberate strike from the Mint, and their previous reference to ‘approx’ was an error, meaning they specifically only struck 1,000 coins. Surely this is one of the lowest ever deliberate productions of a coin?

What do change checkers think this is worth? One sold on EBay recently through auction for £960.00 and another sold with a best offer of £1,800.00. Crazy money. I wonder whether anymore will appear for sale?

I’d love to have one!! (Though I’m still searching for that elusive 1983 two pence first!!!!!!)…

Thanks Andrew. I don’t think there is a way to 100% confirm ‘sold’ ebay prices. It’s certainly a very low mintage coin, also judging by the few that have turned up compared to the 2015 trials and I suppose it is credible that they may have needed to make more trial coins during 2016, although it does seem odd that they would set up the dies with a normal (in production by then) 2016 obverse and match it with the trial reverse instead of the normal trial 2015 obverse – but I suspect there may be rules about making coins with past dates, so it’s interesting.

Further information from the Royal Mint through a freedom of information request has confirmed that our if the 1k minted trial coins dated 2016, c.800 were returned. So, there are about 200 in private hands?! Crazy…

Hi there I have a 2017 new £1 coin with the tails side of the coin perfect but the heads side of the coin looking like it’s been milled a few times but not in sequence so it’s like the queens had has like a shimmer/ shadow around her head. Is this coin worth keeping at all?

Further information from the Mint about the 2015 and 2016 Trial Coins. Previous posters claimed that many were returned…I made another FOI request and here is the response, which was received today:

“With regard to the trial pieces, more than 15,000 samples have been returned and processed so far to date. We are continuing the processing of additional returns and have contacted all relevant businesses to remind them of their obligations to return these pieces to us under agreed to Terms and Conditions.”

Only a matter of time before people stop being able to sell them on Ebay. How long before the Mint start selling them too – making all those coins selling for hundreds worthless…I hope Change Checker get some from the Mint and are able to release them to collectors at a reasonable rate.

I have found a one pound coin in my change that does not have any nickel-brass edging. The whole coin is silver. Is this a mistake or a fake? I have not heard of any fake new 12 sided coins but perhaps there now are some in circulation. I have compared my coin to a normal 2 colour one and it seems identical in markings etc but is fractionally narrower and lighter due to the lack of nickel brass edging. Have you come across any coins like the one I have described?

Firstly I would like to say you have created a very informative site, which has helped me understand the error on my £1.
I have a £1 with the partial collar error how rare are this type of error and is there anywhere I could get it officially confirmed and valued? Is it even worth anything more than £1?
I was wanting to keep it and possibly give it as a gift if it is worth anything.

Thanks. I think that’s probably the most common striking mishap on the new £1 coins (if you don’t include the dark rings on the silver bit, mentioned previously). The partial collar problem can vary in severity but they are common enough around to not command much of a premium (perhaps £5 or so at the moment).

Hi… I’ve just got a new £1 coin in my change 2017.. And it has a solid black line around the flowers and crown of the coin and on the queen’s head side its a faint outline around both on the silver bits… Done a bit of looking and can’t find too many like it… Is it rare and is it worth getting checked out?? Thanks

A lot seem to have those dark rings. As far as I can tell it’s grease (or something similar) from the dies that gets burnt on due to the heat generated when they are struck. Not really worth getting it checked out as it’s viewed as a bit of an ugly problem as a result of mass-production.

Hi Change Checker crew. I trust you all in good health.
I would like to ask a question if you could answer for me please?!
The new 12- sides one pound coins dated 2016 and 2017, that have been milled to the left (known as a ‘lefty’), instead of the right, would either of these be worth collecting it worth more than a pound now?
Thanks for taking the time to read this and keep up the cracking work.

As you probably know, both types (i.e. 2016 and 2017 coins, as 2018 coins aren’t in circulation yet) of leftie £1 coins are scarcer than those with the milled section to the right of the bottom point. 2016 lefties seem common enough to not attract a premium over face value. 2017 lefties do often sell for a bit more than face value, but it’s not like you’ll be able to find buyers for them on every street – most people don’t know/care! It’s an interesting variant but the massive numbers of total coins made mean that there are probably more lefties out there than people that want them.

Hi iv came across 2 new one pound coins that im woundering if worth anything the first one is a 2016 1pound coin which compared to all the other new coins i have is slightly lighter gold on the outaide i dont know if it could be cause its not been used much or due to colour problems but the gold is more silver gold than gold gold on the others… coin number 2 has missprint i think you would say not sure but what i mean is the middle section of coin has been printed lower than the others for exmple where the queens neck stops on all other coins is in the silver area this one the neck stops on the gold and on the other side the bottom is also on gold rather than silver only small ampunt but still not like any of the other coins i have is this worth any money? Thankyou for your time .

Colour differences affecting the outer ring seem to be quite common. It’s most likely due to a process that affects the blank coins before they are struck and different batches have slightly different colours. And the thing with the slightly lower Queen is also well known – it may be a different die was used or it may be slightly off centre. Either way, there are so many new £1 coins in circulation and you rarely find 2 that are exactly the same! People call all sorts of very minor things ‘errors’ on ebay and other websites and I think most remain unsold (and if they do sell it’s usually a fake sale or something dodgy). Personally I’d spend them.

I have bought on ebay fake trail £1 coins dated 2014, 2015 and 2016. They cost £9 each. There is a web page associated with check your change which has pictures of the 2015 fake. But there are also fakes for 2014 and 2016. I could have sent them back to vendors. But when I saw people selling trails for £9 I thought the price had dropped dramatically. So it is comforting to find they are fakes. The 2014 is a terrible fake. Nothing like the original. The 2015 and 2016 coins are closer but still with obvious differences.

Thanks. Yes I’ve seen them all. The reverses on the 2015 and 2016 are mis-leading and very like the originals. Fortunately with a proper look it’s easy to tell them apart from the real ones. I sometimes wonder if someone in the UK commissions these kinds of fakes from China, or perhaps they just look at eBay to see what kinds of modern coins sell for the most and then fake them. Anything worth over about £30 seems to be a target.

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